Don't forget the salt. Salt not only makes things salty (duh) but it increases the flavors of spices and sweets. Add a pinch of salt to desserts to heighten the sugar or chocolate flavor as well as to spice blends to bring out more flavor. A lot of people don't put salt because they've loaded up on spices and that's just a shame.

Don't forget the salt. Salt not only makes things salty (duh) but it increases the flavors of spices and sweets. Add a pinch of salt to desserts to heighten the sugar or chocolate flavor as well as to spice blends to bring out more flavor. A lot of people don't put salt because they've loaded up on spices and that's just a shame.

I have been substituting salt in recipies with lemon juice, it also brings out the flavours, cut the tartness with a teaspoon of sugar.
Half a lemon is usually enough when a recipe calls for salt.
Of course this is not always appropriate but it sure is fun finding out which works, have not had one ruined recipe yet.

I have been substituting salt in recipies with lemon juice, it also brings out the flavours, cut the tartness with a teaspoon of sugar.

Why?

This doesn't make sense to me. Sugar is much worse than what salt could do to you. I'm not an atkins freak but I do think americans put uneccesary sugar and corn syrup in alot of things. Alot of marinades can go without it. I especially hate it when you have a spicy dish like jerk which requires sugar to balance the haberneros, but when people cut the hot peppers out to make a mild dish they don't cut the sugar. Even the desserts can easily go without half the sugar.

As with many things people put in to automatic dishwashers it will tend to, over time, ruin the handles & tarnish the blades. Between the automatic dishwashing liquid and the electric drying elements the poor things don't have a chance. It is more evident with the old knives, being old carbon steel with wooden handles.

My mother-in-law has been washing her knives for years this way, the plastic handles are wavy or cracked or loose from expanding and contracting so much with the temperature fluctuations. They're about 10 year old Wustoffs. She really didn't even notice, but then I pointed out her glass drinking glasses. Once crystal clear and pretty, now look as though they've been through a New Mexican sand storm. Her sauce pans are the same.

Anything I want to keep or care about does not get in to the dish washer.

Well, I knew about the handles from first-hand experience! I was just wondering if you knew of other reasons. My best knife is my oldest, and actually comes out of the dishwasher rusted!
Here's another dishwasher don't:
When DH and I first got married, we had these great Mexican glass glasses (you know, with the air bubbles?). By our first anniversary we had NO Mexican glass glasses. Every one of them broke in the dishwasher. (You'd think I'd learn after the first one, huh? But then we didn't have a set anymore, so it didn't matter!)
Karen

You need a pankin'. Yeah, those older knives rust because they're carbon steel and not stainless steel. Those need care and love just like our children and cast iron cookware.

Please don't put that back in the dishwasher.

Clean it with warm water and a tiny bit of standard dishwashing soap. Dry it thoroughly with a paper towel or equal. Now and forever. Don't use steel wool or a scotch bright pad, EVER. Unless the blade is so far gone, then you have to use one of those scratchy things.

Each week and RIGHT NOW, rub the blade & handle with mineral oil. If you don't have any handy, just make sure you pick some up next time you're at your local hardware store or even grocery store.

But for right NOW, rub the blade with some vegetable oil. This will keep it from rusting and over time will develop a nice patina. Don't rub the handle with vegetable oil, if it is wood. Wait for the mineral oil (it won't go rancid on ya).

If this is too much trouble for the old blade, sell it on ebay.

However, if you choose to use it and care for it, it could very well become your favorite. They're mine and they go everywhere with me, drives my wife NUTS.

Find a local person who sharpens kitchen knives. Make friends with them, get to know them and ask them questions about the care and sharpening of that knife. Ask them how to use a steel. You'll never regret it a second.

Incidentally, it's an old German superstition (that my family, being from Germany, adheres to) that if you give a knife as a gift, it will "cut" the friendship. Therefore, to avoid such disasters, any time you give someone a lovely carving knife or tomato knife or set of steak knives, you must ask them to pay you a penny. And, of course, they must pay it! My mom buys me wonderful knives, so I always pay her a dime. :-)

When we got married (1981), I remember a set of knives given to us with a penny taped to each knife. My father-in-law told the same story about "buying the knives", and that's what we were supposed to use the pennies for!

So your father in law gave you the pennies to pay him with? That's interesting. When I got married earlier this year, my parents told me to decline any knife gifts - I guess they didn't know about the give and take penny trick.